Northern Wisconsin... I went for a walk through my woods. I had a fresh snow ( four inches the other day ) and I figured I could judge tracks better. The trouble is other then two small (and I mean small) sets of tracks, it was all I saw on the property.
On my usual hunting areas across my property I saw zero rubs, zero scrapes, and the trails leading through the cedar/balsam/alder marsh. The trails in the marsh where in past years would be walked to a mud path, were hardly used.
I talked to locals, neighbors and friends about deer sign on their property. They usually answer, what deer sign? And many of them are not hunting this year. Anyone hunting my property this year will be told... shoot a doe and you never hunt here again!!
Yet the DNR is claiming record deer numbers again. (Just like in past years of course) They are full of you know what. All they are doing is selling license, trying to make money. They have no problem telling lies to Wisconsin Hunters. They've been doing it for years. They want to expand the number of days we can hunt also. Why.. kill more does.
How worried are they about license sales you ask? Well they are allowing children now to hunt. And of course they have to be with an adult. This is so the young person can share a hunting heritage with his/her family they claim. BS alert!!! Where was this concern in past years? They want to sell junior a license, and the DNR wants more hunters in the woods and more deer harvested. And don't forget, then junior can insist that they hunt. That means Dad (or Mom) gets a license also.
When we were young, we always went with Dad and the uncles into the woods. We sat on stands with them. We were taught tracking, sign reading, making drives, and patience. We just did not have a license or shoot anything. And when deer were shot, we carried rifles out, or helped drag so we learned the work aspect of deer hunting. That was and still is hunting heritage.
For the people that claim they have record number of does and bucks in their area, they are lucky. There are other parts of the State that are really dry. And if you keep shooting all the does for the DNR your area will go dry sooner or later. As Dad used to say, go in the barn and shoot all the cows and your calf crop next year stinks...
Big bucks would be better managed through antler point counting. We have private areas up here that have signs posted explaining about point counts. My friend hunts private land where it must be a eight or bigger. I have no problem in that.
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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, a total wreck, screaming Yahoo, with a big smile on your face."
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